A second look at @ThePlaylist and their "best of" Stephen Frears

With the release of "Florence Foster Jenkins," light, free-spirited, British-humored, but slight film, Stephen Frears continues to defy genre expectations in his career. It is time to figure out if this guy is an auteur or just an opportunistic professionally talented contract man. The Playlist have published their picks for the best movies of Frears' career, click HERE, and, man, this guy's made a lot of great movies. The problem is does he have an auteuristic touch that bleeds through in them? I don't think he does. Are there any similar, noteworthy touches between, say, "High Fidelity" and "The Queen"? Not really. That doesn't detract from the fact that he is a very good filmmaker that seems to be doing a good job with every screenplay that comes his way. It's an eclectic filmography with what The Playlist's Jessica Kiang calls "a flexible aesthetic." That's a apt description.

Nothing he's done touches these five films. It seems like Kiang omitted "The Queen," which I totally understand in the scheme of things. It's not necessarily a film that has aged like fine wine, but Helen Mirren's Oscar-winning performance is astounding and the fascinating cat and mouse game between the Queen and Princess Diana is an absurd, but truthful example of the royal monarchical system. I have seen some of the other films that top Kiang's list such as "The Hit" and "Prick Up Your Ears," but I don't really think they merit mention with the five that I've listed, which are essential and undeniably great films.